Hines Ward: There's More Pressure on Chelsea and Kirstie As Performers

During Finale Week, Dancing With the Stars is less a dance competition than a boxing match. Everyone is trying to bob and weave and deflect. "This guy is the real frontrunner!" "I should win because I do this and don’t do that!" Everyone has a reason why they are the real underdog.

Hines said Kym choreographed a great Freestyle routine that displays all the different dances they’ve done in Season 12 to this point. Kym said there are still lifts and tricks in there, despite her neck injury.

"It's going to be different," Hines told ET. "I don't think Dancing With the Stars [has ever seen] a routine like this before.” Kym quickly adds, "It's going to be very different. We're going out on a little bit of a limb."

When asked what he can do to beat fellow finalists Kirstie Alley and Chelsea Kane, Hines said “I think the pressures are more on Kirstie and Chelsea ‘cause that's what they do, they're performers. And Chelsea, she's been dancing her whole life. If anything, I think they would feel more pressure than me."

(Nice not-so-subtle use of the “too much previous dance experience” argument.)

Hines is a football player who hasn't danced before, but athletes do very well on DWTS. He could be the fifth athlete to win after Emmitt Smith, Apolo Anton Ohno, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Shawn Johnson.

By the way, Kym said she's feeling better day by day and didn't even think she needed to wear her neck brace that day. Hines said she had to wear it anyway. (Aww! He's so protective of her.)